Simon Pegg Defends Roberto Orci As Star Trek 3 Director

There probably isn't much that Simon Pegg would say about Star Trek 3 at this point, as he just revealed last week that he hasn't read the script yet. What he can talk about, however, is the film's director, Bob Orci. In addition to collaborating with the writer/producer on the last two Star Trek movies, Pegg was also part on the Orci-scrpted Mission: Impossible III. As you can imagine, many years of working together is going to lead to cooperative relationship - which could explain why the actor has found himself defending Orci as the choice to direct the next Star Trek sequel.

Speaking with the BBC, Pegg related his relationship with Bob Orci as not being a friendship but instead being more familial. Describing the soon-to-be first time director as "very much part of the Star Trek family," the World's End star explained why he's excited for Orci to replace J.J. Abrams as the filmmaker at the head of the storied sci-fi franchise. He pointed to not only the filmmaker's familiarity with the rebooted series, but also that Orci has a certain level of knowledge that some of the other creatives behind the last two movies don't. Said the actor,

"Bob's been there since the first Star Trek - by that I mean the 2009 one - so it seemed to make perfect sense that he come in as a director on this one because he gets it. He was always the most Trekkie of all of those guys anyway. He's always understood the story the best, so it's great that he's going to be involved in the writing and directing."

Orci is involved with the script for Star Trek 3, but he won't be working with his Star Trek Into Darkness cohorts Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof. Instead, back in December the folks at Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot hired J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay to pen the script with Orci. The director has already said that the plan is to go back to the franchise's roots and take the Enterprise crew into deep space.

It will certainly be a challenge for Orci to direct Star Trek 3, as the truth is that he's never actually directed anything before (not even any episodes of the many television shows he's written for and produced). Fortunately, Pegg expects that the first time director will have a solid safety net, with J.J. Abrams still having a hand in the pictures. Abrams, of course, is hard at work getting Star Wars: Episode VII ready for release and will be in that position until next December, but Pegg promises that he will still be involved with the next chapter of Star Trek. Said Pegg, "I don't think JJ would be able to let it completely go because that's not in his nature."

Star Trek 3 doesn't currently have a release date, but Pegg has confirmed that the production is aiming to come out some time in 2016 - the franchise's 50th anniversary.